My Dear
by BlackRoseOpal
Summary: She was the puppet, him her puppeteer. Three part one-shot series. Hazama/Tsubaki
1. Chapter 1

**Based off the videogame BlazBlue: Continuum Shift**

~1~

"You wanted to see me, Sir?"

The tall ceiling of Hazama's office caught Tsubaki Yayoi's low voice, bouncing it the hall. Hazama sat at his desk, writing, or rather pretending to write something important. He looked up and smiled gently at his First Lieutenant.

"Ah, Miss Yayoi," he said, placing down his pen and rising from his seat. "Good of you to stop by."

"Has something come up, Sir?" asked Tsubaki, keeping her uniform stance. Hazama raised an eyebrow at her, even as she stared forward at attention.

"At ease, Lieutenant." She loosened her stance, but only lightly. "Relax, Miss Yayoi. There's no one here to demerit you for not standing perfectly at attention at all times, my dear."

Tsubaki's lips twitched lightly at what he called her, but she had been trained to keep her composure at worse, even dying children. This barely phased her, even if it surprised her.

"May I ask why you called me here, Sir?" she asked, watching her Captain as he made his way to the front of his desk, readjusting the fedora on his head.

"What if I just want to get to know my right hand soldier?" he said with a wide grin. "Is that so awful?"

"No, Sir, I suppose not." Hazama chuckled lightly, extending his hand in a welcoming gesture,

"Please relax, my dear. You won't be demoted for loosening those stiff shoulders of yours for a few minutes."

Tsubaki pressed her lips together and studied Hazama, looking for any inkling of a chance this might be a test.

"I won't tell, I promise." His grin started to fade. "Now how are we going to work with each other if you don't make yourself comfortable around me."

Tsubaki started to shift in her boots.

"With all due respect, Sir, that's not how-"

"Not how things are done at the Academy? Well I'm not your teacher, am I?"

There were a few moments of silence, and then Tsubaki's shoulders slowly relaxed and she flexed her shoulder blades, rolling out the stiffness.

"Well, it's wonderful to meet you, First Lieutenant." Hazama leaned back against the desk. "This is your captain speaking." His voice mocked that of an aircraft attendant Tsubaki had heard before. "I'll be looking forward to working with you."

"Thank you, Sir."

"Hazama is fine for now, Miss Yayoi. May I call you Tsubaki?"

She thought for a moment, unsure of how this figurehead before her could hold such high authority with such a casual charismatic demeanor.

"I suppose, Sir-" Hazama raised an eyebrow at her and she cleared her throat. "Captain Hazama."

"Just Hazama is perfectly fine, my dear."

There it was again. That name. It was strange. Who was this man?

The captain paused for a moment and scanned Tsubaki up and down. He breathed out and removed his charcoal colored fedora, placing it to his chest.

"I wish I'd known they sent me such a beautiful maiden as a Lieutenant," he said with a wry smile. "I would have cleaned up the place."

Blush rushed to Tsubaki's cheeks, even as her face remained stoic and calm. Even as Hazama said this, she looked around the room, noticing that nothing was really out of place. It was tip top shape everywhere she looked, even to the placement of the pens in the metal cup on the desk.

"My dear, do you ever smile?" Tsubaki blinked and brought her gaze back to her captain. She did not quite know how to answer.

"Um...well yes..." Hazama smiled again, realizing how out of her element she truly was. Her clean cut scarlet hair that ran down to her back. The evenly pressed uniform that, although designed to perform as an equalizer between male and female soldiers, did nothing to hide her beauty.

"Let's see a smile then," Hazama replied, ushering her towards him with one finger. "Come on. Someone as gorgeous as you has to be complete with a simple grin."

Tsubaki blinked a few times, cleared her throat, and then lifted the corners of her lips. Hazama frowned though, seeing her eyes remain the same staring forward and serious. He sighed.

"My dear, we're going to have to work on that." He placed his hat on the desk behind him and leaned back on his hands. "We're not in the field of battle you know. We have time to get to know each other."

Tsubaki dropped her fake smile and pursed her lips.

"Is this really all you called me for, Sir?" she asked, rather boldly in her opinion. "This isn't some sort of test?"

Hazama laughed aloud.

"Of course not, Miss Yayoi. I'm not that kind of captain." He crossed his arms, never breaking that light smile of his. "So tell me something about yourself. Surely you've had more to your life than reaching the top of your class and making every girl at the Academy utterly jealous of you."

More blush.

"Um..." Tsubaki thought for a moment; she actually had to think hard about it. "Well, I've heard I can sing. And I like to cook sometimes."

Hazama placed a hand on his chest as in amazement.

"Oh, please marry me!" he said; Tsubaki wasn't one hundred percent sure whether he was joking or not. "Is there anything you can't do?"

There was a moment where he simply stared at her with that endearing smile, studying her, wondering if she still thought this was a test.

"Tsubaki," he said, his voice dropping a bit. "You don't have to be so uptight with me, you know. Consider me as a friend who just happens to call a few of your shots."

Tsubaki fiddled with her fingernails behind her back, trying to figure this man before her. His emerald hair fell over his eyes, nearly shut in a permanent smile. There was nothing out of place, down to his half palm gloves; not a catch of cloth out of place. He seemed perfect.

That's probably what set her off the most.

Hazama pushed himself from the desk and padded slowly to where Tsubaki stood. As he approached her, she immediately stood up straight, hands stiff by her side at attention. He didn't object this time; he simply chuckled once more and made his way around her like a hawk, or a vulture.

"You're an interesting specimen, Miss Yayoi," he said, circling and circling. "I look forward to working with you and getting to know you."

Tsubaki stiffened as she felt him take a lock of her long hair, twirling it around one finger until he passed over her shoulder and let it fall over her bosom. He leaned forward, placing himself at her level. Tsubaki only had a glimpse of his eyes before he placed the fedora back over his head, shadowing the upper half of his face. Bright gold eyes- and was she seeing things? Slit pupils, like that of a cat...no...a snake.

"I truly look forward to it," he said one more time, with the same smile that drove Tsubaki's blood to run cold.

* * *

><p><strong>NA:** I just recently became a fan of this videogame called BlazBlue and for some reason fell in love with the bizarre and not-often-shipped pairing of Hazama and Tsubaki. It's more of a puppet and puppeteer pairing but it's fun to write. Part 1 of 3 Complete!


	2. Chapter 2

~2~

The Izayoi seemed to pulse with power in Tsubaki's grasp as she stood before the door to Hazama's office. Fury boiled in her. The hatred she suddenly felt for her captain for manipulating her so horridly nearly made her forget this would be treason. She would probably be executed for this, but to eliminate the man who nearly made her murder the two people she cared about the most was her last request.

"I am the wings of justice," she whispered to her self, holding the Izayoi parallel to her face. "White feathers for innocence... Black feathers for the darkest sin. We are the messengers and hammers of God, come to deliver righteous justice. Let sinners be punished." She placed one boot on the door. "Let justice be done!"

Her heavy kick knocked the door in and almost immediately she rolled to the side as the snake-like chain, glowing a deadly green shot in her direction and hit the wall. In immediate counter, she raised the Izayoi as it collided with Hazama's knife.

How had he moved so fast?

"Oh, my dear Miss Yayoi," Hazama said in a low curl of his voice, pressing down on her with his weight. "Did you not think I could sense the immense power of your weapon just outside my door?"

Tsubaki gritted her teeth, scowling at the man above her. Expression wide with a sort of wild amusement, his gold snake eyes were clearly visible, malicious and deadly.

"Jin told me everything," said Tsubaki through her teeth, struggling against Hazama's strength. "About my mission, about you."

With a new charge of power, Tsubaki forced herself upward, causing a burst of energy to send Hazama flying backwards, only for him to land gracefully on his feet and casually readjust his hat.

"Oh, Miss Yayoi," he purred. "Do you not think I saw this coming?" He flipped the knives around in his hands. "You may wear an incredible facade of a hard-bitten military official, but really you're as innocent and corruptible as a child."

Tsubaki gave an incoherent shriek of anger and charged, enraged at his words, her weapon pointed strait for his heart. With the smallest of grins, Hazama side stepped and as Tsubaki stumbled past him slammed his steel toed shoe into her back, sending her over his desk. Papers flew everywhere, the pens spilled from their container and rolled across the floor. Hazama casually leaped onto his desk and squatted down to look down where Tsubaki lay, hand on her throbbing lower back.

"Now look at the mess you've made here," he said, shaking his finger at her. "I may have to write you up for this."

Tsubaki glared up at him, and with her left hand, gripped the Izayoi and swiped upward. A cutting surge of energy flashed up. Hazama moved his head to the side, receiving only a cut to the cheek, and even that seemed to provoke him.

"Now that wasn't nice," he hissed, placing a half gloved hand against his cheek. The material soaked up the blood only to let it trickle out again when he reached down, forcing the Ouroboros to slam into Tsubaki's face. She fell back down, grunting in restrained affliction, a bruise already starting to form on her jaw. Hazama hopped from his position on the desk and promptly kicked the Izayoi out of his Lieutenant's reach. He knelt down and took a fist full of Tsubaki's crimson locks and pulling her up, knocking off her hat and pulling her face towards him, their noses inches apart. He reveled in the pain he saw in her eyes while she clawed at his sleeves to release her.

"Let's be honest," he said in a completely cheerful manner. "You're not going to defeat me, no matter how pure your disgusting blood is or how disciplined you are." He grinned, a line of white teeth flashing in a menacing smile. "I've relived this moment over and over, and I must say it never get's old. And you always give up." He locked his gaze with hers. "So what do you say, my darling? I think it's time you threw in the towel."

Tsubaki still emotionally fought the urge to relax her muscles, to let her guard down for a minuscule second. She searched the back of her mind for anyway to escape, anyway to make sense of Hazama's rambles and ridicules, but there was nothing. She slowly closed her tired blue eyes and lowered her arms in defeat.

"Aww," Hazama cooed, placing his other hand under her chin, forcing her face upwards at him. "You've never given up this easily before." He raised an eyebrow as she muttered something inaudible. "What was that my dear?"

"Give me strength," she muttered. Hazama's face dropped an then a sudden burst of light caused him to fly back. The device Tsubaki used as a shield had opened to a book shedding beams of light that almost burned Hazama's skin. Tsubaki lunged for the Izayoi. The blade glowed with a new power and she stood straight, harnessing the light within her being. Even she seemed to glow.

"Well damn," Hazama muttered, wiping the fresh blood from his cheek. "This is something new. I'll have to remember this next time."

"By the Wings of Justice," Tsubaki declared. "I..." Her voice trailed off. There came a panicked look on her face.

"Wh-what..." She turned every which way, looking deranged and confused.

The smile reappeared on Hazama's lips. He rose to his feet and slowly padded over.

"What's wrong, Tsubaki Yayoi?" he said, making a wide circle around her. "What did you see?"

A cold sweat broke out on Tsubaki's brow. That was just it, she couldn't see. Everything had suddenly vanished. The light had completely sapped from everything.

"Oh, that's right, did you not read the user manual?" Hazama teased, well out of the way of Tsubaki's aimlessly waving blade. "Did you not know what happens when you flash around that wonderful weapon of yours?"

Jin's words of warning flashed back into Tsubaki's mind. The Izayoi would steal the light from the user's eyes.

"Oh no," Tsubaki breathed. Without warning, she felt Hazama's hand encircle her throat and slam her onto the ground. The back of her head cracked against the marble floor and she cried out. She suddenly felt another presence in the room. As she felt her consciousness failing, the conversation reached her eyes as if she were being submerged into water.

"Captain Hazama, is there a problem here?"

"No, my dear Imperator. Just taking care of our latest traitor."

"See to it she is fully taken care of?"

"But she's my First Lieutenant, your Holiness. Can I keep her as a...as an example to other NOL officials?"

There was a long silence.

"Very well."

And darkness envelopd her consciousness.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I know this isn't how exactly the storyline goes, but I don't play the game much.


	3. Chapter 3

~3~

It wasn't always completely black. Sometimes, there was be a grayish cloud that would pass across the darkness that overtook Tsubaki's eyes. The only form of comfort she possessed in her imprisonment: The wisps of gray cloud, and the comforting warmth of her bedsheets that clashed against the cold manacle that encircled her ankle, binding her to a long chain that ended at a pole in the middle of the room, allowing her only a little freedom to what necessities lay around her. A toilet, a sink, a bathtub, but even then it was barely possible to get around without stumbling over the feet of the tub or stubbing her toes against the pole that held her.

"Why didn't I listen to you, Jin?" she whispered into the sheets. "Why didn't I just listen?"

"You of all people should know how fun breaking the rules are, my dear. That's what got you here in the first place."

A chill went up Tsubaki's spine as she heard the snake-like voice from the direction of the door, but she didn't hear footsteps and there was no indication he had moved from the doorway- yet.

"Oh, my darling Miss Yayoi," Hazama murmured. "It's saddens me to see you like this, all bound and broken...well at least broken..." He paused and then chuckled. "Never mind, both of them are quite enjoyable."

Tsubaki mumbled a curse under her breath, wishing Hazama would simply burst into flames and leave her to escape.

"I would unbind you, Tsubaki," said Hazama, now approaching her. "But, I couldn't bear the thought of you hurting yourself, stumbling about the Intelligence Agency with no real path to take. You might just stumble back right into my arms."

Tsubaki flinched at Hazama's touch as he placed a gentle hand atop her head. His cold fingers caressed her messy red hair with the lightest of touches.

"And you forget what lengths I went to to preserve your life." He caught her chin, pulling her up to face him. "This is how you thank me? You're positively a mess, Miss Yayoi. You have facilities to make yourself presentable."

"Presentable to whom?" Tsubaki questioned. "I'm not trying to impress anyone. You're the only one who comes in here."

"Exactly, my dear," Hazama purred. "I deserve some eye candy once and a while." He paused, looking her over. "Although, your dreadful choice of hairstyle does nothing to dampen how beautiful you are anyway."

Blush came to Tsubaki's pale cheeks. She tried to wrench her face from Hazama's grasp but he held fast with his fingers, such a strong grip for such little effort.

"Oh, I wish you could see me right now, Tsubaki." His voice was closer. "I wish you could see how lonely I am. Having a new First Lieutenant that smells of pickles and picks his fingers with his daggers." He shuddered. "Disgusting."

She could feel his breath on her face, dangerously close. She felt as if he were bearing his fangs at her, ready to devour her at a moment's notice. Hazama frowned at the cloudy blue eyes that stared straight ahead, unfocused and unfeeling. Tsubaki jumped again as she felt his other hand run her leg to where her ankle was bound by cold steel.

"I could restore your sight you know," Hazama whispered in her ear. "Help you see again. All the beauty of the world would simply flood back into those azure eyes of yours." He ran his thumb across her cheek. "But of course, all the ugliness of the world would be yours to witness as well." He laughed once. "It's a bit of a win-lose situation, don't you think? Maybe it's better to be blind after all. Keeps you guessing. Keeps you wondering what I'm going to do next."

"What, are you going to torture me now?" Tsubaki murmured, almost devoid of emotion. Hazama chuckled and pressed his cheek to hers as he hissed in her ear, "Not exactly."

Forcefully, Tsubaki slammed back onto the bed, hands pinned on either side. Her heart dropped to her stomach at the thought of what was going to happen next. There was a long moment without motion, sound, barely even breath, and then Hazama resumed his quiet laughter.

"Oh ye of little faith," he said, leaning down to her. "I man be a toweringly immoral and loathsome serpent, but I have class." He nestled his forehead against hers and whispered, "I know how to properly treat a woman."

Tsubaki began to tremble, searching for words to get rid of him. His sage colored hair

"You're doing an awful job as it is," she dared to say. Hazama frowned for a split second.

"I wish you would give me more credit, Miss Yayoi. I can be a gentleman when I want to." His warm grip on her wrists was replaced with the cold bind of his black chains, tingling against her skin as they glowed a faint beryl. "I just...don't really want to."

With his hands free, Hazama explored Tsubaki's face, caressing her cheek and running down her pale neck.

"You are quite beautiful, my dear," he said. "I can only imagine how many men have fawned over you. Yet never have you swayed to mortal sin and lust, have you?"

She refused to answer. She refused to give in to his teases and backhanded compliments. If there was one thing he could never take from her, it would be her dignity.

"You think I don't know how this ends, do you?" said Hazama, running his fingers through her hair. "I've seen you like this over and over. Sometimes you give in and sometimes you don't."

"Liar," Tsubaki spat. Hazama shrugged,

"Maybe, maybe not. Anything to get you to fall for my allurement. I guess this is a time where you resist." His voice dropped. "But, you think I can't tell what emotions and thoughts run across that face of yours; you think you can wipe your facade to be void of any traces that might lead me to believe otherwise?" He smirked. "I can take away your dignity, as easily as I can take your virtue."

Tsubaki clenched her fists, trying to keep from trembling.

"My, my," Hazama purred. "What is this I see? Is that- fear, Tsubaki? Is the great daughter of the Yayoi household swaying to the seduction and slander of a mere man? My dear, I think you might be losing your touch. You can run into the face of death, sword held high and wings spread, but when it comes to a lover's caress, you flee as the child of your former self."

The words slowly broke through Tsubaki's defenses. She was simply too tired and too defeated. Out of all her encounters with this man, out of all the battles she's faced, mental, physical, spiritual, this one pushed her to her breaking point.

Tiny tears trickled from her foggy eyes and slipped down the sides of her face, only to be wiped away by Hazama's thumb.

"Oh, Miss Yayoi, don't cry," he said with false concern, taking her chin in his hands. "All this blubbering will absolutely ruin my mood."

The next moment, Tsubaki stiffened in shock, surprise, and over all confusion. Hazama leaned down and kissed her, gently and almost chastely. But it was wrong. It was all wrong. This wasn't the touch of love or compassion. This wasn't a kiss of devotion and commitment. He was playing with her, using her for his own personal entertainment.

"You've never truly known the pleasure of human company, have you?" he said, stroking her bottom lip with his thumb. "You've never given in to the call of a lover or a man's longing for your warmth."

Tsubaki just stared, wide eyed, refusing to believe this was happening, unwilling to accept defeat, but she was just so tired.

"You may know soon enough, milady," he said with a smile. He kissed down her neck, causing her to shiver. As she thought she would surely lose the chastity she'd worked to keep all these years, the hold on her released, the chains evaporated, and Hazama's weight left the loud springy bed. She still lay on her back, trembling, wondering if he was rising only to remove his clothes, but there was nothing. She only felt a single caress on her cheek, a quiet, "Goodnight, my dear," and the slamming of the door, leaving cold silence to envelop her in the darkness.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Aaaaaaand that's all folks. I can't imagine me keeping this story at the rating it is if I continued.


End file.
